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Claude Debussy
Achille-Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music, though he himself disliked the term when applied to his compositions. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in his native France in 1903. Debussy was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional scales and chromaticism influenced many composers who followed. Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of atonality. The prominent French literary style of his period was known as Symbolism, and this movement directly inspired Debussy both as a composer and as an active cultural participant. Tossup Questions # One orchestral work by this composer opens with a sustained timpani roll and double bass tremolo on a low B, while two harps alternate playing octave F-sharps and G-sharps. Some of this composer's piano works were orchestrated by André Caplet. At the opening of one piece by him, an F - A-flat third in the pianist's left hand is answered by the same third an octave above in the right hand. That movement in D-flat major and 9/8 time appears in a piano suite by him that ends with a "Passepied". The movement "Play of the waves" is the second in a series of three "symphonic sketches" by him, depicting the ocean. For 10 points, name this French composer of La mer, whose Suite bergamasque includes the movement "Clair de Lune". # The second movement of this composer's only string quartet opens in 6/8 time, with the first violin and cello playing a pizzicato G major chord four times. This composer wrote two dances for strings and a cross-strung harp, one dance "sacred" and the other "profane." This composer's three-movement set of Nocturnes was inspired by James Whistler paintings. A tone poem by this composer begins with a solo (*) flute that descends from C-sharp to G. The movement "From dawn to noon on the sea" opens a three-movement work by him that depicts the ocean. His twenty-four Préludes include "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair". For 10 points, name this French composer of Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, whose Suite Bergamasque includes "Clair de lune". # Carl Czerny inspired this composer to write the first of his Etudes for piano, which he named "For the Five Fingers." A piano suite of his includes a recurring F, E-flat, F, E-flat, D-flat motif in its third movement. Another one of his piano suites includes a fast-paced "Golliwogg's Cakewalk." This composer of Children's Corner used a female chorus to depict Sirens in the last movement of his Nocturnes. One of his works set to a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé opens with a solo flute playing a descending chromatic scale. For 10 points, name this French impressionist composer of Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and "Clair de lune." # An alternation between pizzicato and bowed melodies opens the "Assez vif et bien rythme" second movement of this composer's String Quartet in G minor. Another of his works largely consists of parallel thirds marked con sordina, and is part of a suite that also includes a "Menuet" and "Passepied." Vaslav Nijinsky caused controversy by appearing to masturbate during a ballet inspired by one of this composer's pieces. His best-known short piano piece was inspired by a Paul Verlaine poem about moonlight and is part of Suite Bergamasque. For 10 points, name this French composer of Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and "Clair de Lune."